Ashanti ring
The Ashanti Ring or Wolseley Ring the Wolseley Gang was a group of British officers around the future Field Marshal Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley , who held leading military positions in Victorian England .
Origin of the ring
In 1873 Garnet Joseph Wolseley was sent to West Africa to fight the Ashanti Kingdom ( 3rd Ashanti War ). He reached Africa with 35 officers. Wolseley had chosen these men himself, with whose help he built up an army of natives and conquered the capital of the Ashanti. They were later referred to as the Ashanti or Wolseley , sometimes also Garnet ring based on Wolseley's first name , and were considered particularly talented. Even after the Crimean War , Wolseley had begun to assemble the best officers he met in a network of loyal, capable men. He met the rest of the men on the Red River Expedition he led (1870).
meaning
The group gained significant influence on the Victorian British Army through mutual support and assumed leadership positions by the end of the century. The men took part in most of the British campaigns of the time. They fought in the Zulu War in South Africa in 1879 , in the occupation of Egypt to suppress the Urabi movement (1882), in Sudan in the course of the Mahdi uprising and in the second Boer War (1899-1902).
Two members of the ring reached the highest rank of field marshal (Garnet Joseph Wolseley, Evelyn Wood ) and four achieved the second highest rank of full general . Three of the men (Wood, McNeill, Buller) were awarded the Victoria Cross , the highest award in Great Britain for outstanding bravery in the face of the enemy , which has only been given to 1,350 men in British history.
In the late 19th century rivaled the ring Wolseley, called Africans , the Indians , the ring of Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts . Wolseley's Ashanti ring stood to strengthen the British troops in the motherland in order to be prepared for a war against France or Russia in Europe. In contrast, the group around Lord Roberts was there to strengthen the British troops in India and to seek a decision against Russia there ( Great Game ). During the Boer War , the unsuccessful African Redvers Buller was replaced by Lord Roberts, and in 1900 Roberts also succeeded Wolseley as Commander in Chief of the British Army .
Members
The Ashanti ring included a .:
| highest rank | Surname | highest function |
|---|---|---|
| Field Marshal | Garnet Joseph Wolseley | Commander in Chief of the British Army |
| Field Marshal | Evelyn Wood | Commanding general of the II Army Corps |
| general | Redvers Buller | Commander in Chief of British Forces in the Boer War |
| general | Baker Creed Russell | Commander of the Southern District |
| general | Henry Brackenbury | Director-General of Ordnance in the War Department |
| general | George Richards Greaves | Commander in Chief in Bombay |
| general | Archibald Alison | Commander of the Aldershot District Command |
| Lieutenant General | William Francis Butler | Commander of the Aldershot District Command |
| Lieutenant General | John Plumptre Carr Glyn | Commander of the Eastern District |
| Major general | John Carstairs McNeill | Brigade commander in the Sudan campaign |
| Major general | John Frederick Maurice | Professor of Military History at Staff College |
| Major general | Hugh McCalmont | |
| Major general | Herbert Stewart | Commander of the Camel Corps on the Gordon Relief Expedition |
| Major general | George Pomeroy Colley | Commander in Chief in the First Boer War |
| Colonel | Cromer Ashburnham | Queen's Adjutant |
| Frederick Charles Denison |
literature
- Leigh Maxwell: The Ashanti ring. Sir Garnet Wolseley's Campaigns 1870–1882. Leo Cooper et al., London 1985, ISBN 0-436-27447-7 .
- John Duncan: Heroes for Victoria, 1837-1901. Queen Victoria's Fighting Forces. Spellmount, Speldhurst 1991, ISBN 0-946771-38-3 .